Scientists find the job of a mystery plant gate

Scientists in Japan have solved a plant puzzle that was 30 years old. They found out what a small "gate" in plants does. The gate is called AKT5^*1. Its gene^*2 was found 30 years ago, but for all that time nobody knew what it carried or what its job was.

The study was led by Professor Nobuyuki Uozumi and Assistant Professor Yuki Muraoka of Tohoku University, a university in the north of Japan. Scientists from other groups in Japan and in other countries worked with them.

Plants need potassium^*3 to grow. It is one of their three main nutrients^*4, together with nitrogen^*5 and phosphorus^*6. Plants take in potassium through small gates in their cells^*7 and move it around their bodies. Arabidopsis^*8, a small plant that scientists often study, has nine of these gates. AKT5 is one of them.

The team found that AKT5 does not work alone. An enzyme^*9 has to switch it on. After that, AKT5 lets potassium pass through. The team also used a cryo-electron microscope^*10 to see the shape of AKT5. This showed them how the switch works.

The team looked at where AKT5 is in the plant. It is found mostly in the thin stems that hold the leaves. The scientists then grew plants without AKT5. These plants had shorter leaf stems. When they were planted close together, they did not grow well.

The team thinks that AKT5 is a very important part of the plant. It helps the plant live in places where many other plants grow close to it. If scientists learn more about how AKT5 works, farmers may one day be able to plant crops^*11 closer together without getting a smaller harvest^*12.

The study was published on September 3, 2026, in Science Advances, an American science magazine.

1. *1 AKT5: The name of one of the gates that carry potassium in a plant
2. *2 gene: A part inside a living thing that carries information about how the living thing is made
3. *3 potassium: A kind of mineral that plants need to grow
4. *4 nutrients: Things in food that living things need to grow and stay healthy
5. *5 nitrogen: A kind of matter that plants need to grow
6. *6 phosphorus: A kind of matter that plants need to grow
7. *7 cells: The very small parts that all living things are made of
8. *8 Arabidopsis: A small plant that scientists often use in their studies
9. *9 enzyme: A thing inside a living body that helps the body do its work
10. *10 cryo-electron microscope: A special tool for seeing very, very small things
11. *11 crops: Plants that farmers grow for food
12. *12 harvest: The amount of food that farmers get from their plants